bottle conditioning question.

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Shawnylocks

Shawnylocks

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hey guys being new to the forums i have done some searching with no sucess in finding an answer (i may be stupid haha)..

i finished and bottled my first batch of an extract ipa that is a harpoon ipa clone. after one week in the bottles im getting very little carbonation and thus no head on the beer. any ideas why?
 
ok thanks. the recipe kit i bought said after i add the priming sugar and bottle i should let them sit for 7 days then "enjoy" so i poped one open yesterday and it was very "thick" and i could taste the sweetness. almost seemed like the yeast stopped working. but again i was going by the directions i was given
 
Shawnylocks said:
i finished and bottled my first batch of an extract ipa that is a harpoon ipa clone. after one week in the bottles im getting very little carbonation and thus no head on the beer. any ideas why?
Click to expand...

The most likely reason is simply that it hasn't finished carbonating. Give it another week or two. The standard mantra here is three weeks of carbonation (but I have bottles at two weeks that are carbonated enough...maybe not conditioned, but at least carbonated). I'm still at the stage of my brewing 'career' where I try bottles I know aren't carbonated and haven't had one yet that was well carbonated at one week.
 
hopefully this dosent sound dumb. going on the directions given i bottled let sit for 1 week and was going to begin enjoying them. with that mentallity i started my next batch of beer (first one was an ipa this one is a brown ale) now if i have to wait a few more weeks will this batch that iu just started still be ok sitting around for a while? i could always get more bottles but i only had enough for 2 cases of bottle with 3-4 as spares.
 
In addition to 3 weeks for carbonation, you will want to put them in the fridge for a couple days so the CO2 in the headspace has time to go into solution through equilibrium.

Put several in the fridge and try one every day after 3 days and note the difference in taste.

Your patience will be rewarded.
 
Shawnylocks said:
hopefully this dosent sound dumb. going on the directions given i bottled let sit for 1 week and was going to begin enjoying them. with that mentallity i started my next batch of beer (first one was an ipa this one is a brown ale) now if i have to wait a few more weeks will this batch that iu just started still be ok sitting around for a while? i could always get more bottles but i only had enough for 2 cases of bottle with 3-4 as spares.
Click to expand...

It will be fine in the fermenter. There are quite a few proponents here of leaving your beer in the fermenter for 4 weeks. I couldn't personally drink enough beer to have another 2 cases freed up in 4 weeks but that might just be me :D I would probably get more bottles. At some point you'll want to brew faster than you can drink it.
 
i started my second batch (IPA) 1 week after the first(Stout). it was too long to sit there and wait. i'm doing my 3rd batch (Pumpkin Ale) this weekend, as i have just bottled the 1st. My plan is to have a light, a dark and a seasonal on hand at all times. i may have to move to kegging soon. hoping the wife gets me a kegerator for xmas.
 
Shawnylocks said:
ok thanks. the recipe kit i bought said after i add the priming sugar and bottle i should let them sit for 7 days then "enjoy" so i poped one open yesterday and it was very "thick" and i could taste the sweetness. almost seemed like the yeast stopped working. but again i was going by the directions i was given
Click to expand...

Hmm. Sweetness suggests maybe it wasn't done fermenting either. Beer doesn't do a very good job of following instructions and an even worse job of telling time. Get a hydrometer to check the gravity, if you don't have one. It's a better way to check if the beer is done fermenting.
 
well when racking from primary (7 gal bucket w/ spigot) to secondary (glass 7 gal carboy) the taste was very bitter. i do have a hydrometer and i had 3 consistant readings at 1.012. it has only gotten "sweet and thick" after adding priming sugar
 

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